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All together now

26th May 2005, Page 70
26th May 2005
Page 70
Page 70, 26th May 2005 — All together now
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

If you're talking to commercial vehicle manufacturers, sooner or later the expression "Integrated manufacturing" is bound to come up. But what does it mean? And more importantly, what does it offer artic operators?

ARVIN MERITOR/ROR T' here are already far too many buzzwords in road transport. So what should we make of "integrated manufacturing"? Forlorn Hughes, European sales director at ROR the well-known ArvinMeritor brand, if you're talking about trailer axles. integration means quite simply doingit yourself."Unlike many other axle makers our portfolio covers every aspect of the complete axle itself. For us that means not only the brakes, hut also the axle, the suspension — we even cover the shock absorbers."

Owning the issue

But why should that be such a good deal for an artic operator? Hughes is adamant: "Because when you're dealing with ArvinMeritor/ ROR,you're dealing with one company that owns all the elements of the axles so if there's ever a problem in the field with one of our products, there's no question of 'who owns the issue?' We do, because it's our brake, our axle. our shock absorber."

As trailer axles and brakes become ever more sophisticated, not least with the advent of EBS, presumably an integrated manufacturer should be well placed to produce axles that are better at 'talking' to the various control systems.

Hughes reckons: "Well the same electronic control systems are obviously used on axles from many suppliers — but I'd say that where we score is that ArvinMeritor/ROR is working with both the truck and the trailer makers. For example, a lot of the Volvo truck brakes are produced by ArvinMeritor/ROR as are those used by Renault."

Not surprisinglyArvinMeritor/ROR has been keen to develop the relationship it has with the manufacturers of both 'halves' of an at-tic. For example, it recently unveiled its Compatico trailer axle in partnership with Renault, as Hughes explains.

"We've taken our truck brake that's fitted to a Renault, and introduced it to a Renaultbranded axle—Compaticothat has the same ArvinMeritor/ROR 'wheel ends'."

While using common components across the entire artic obviously offers potential savings in maintenance and parts costs Hughes insists: "It's not just that — the Renault concept goes much deeper than being just a 'product'. Operators are always striving for consistent, understandable costs. Every week they want to know how much a vehicle or component is going to cost them. Through an integrated product like Compatico it becomes that much easy for them to track and realise that kind of cost consistency What's more, through the Renault service network, operators have got the comfort of having service connections from start-to-finish."

A Renault truck mechanic who services a Magnum or Premium tractor will be equally 'comfortable' working on a Compaticoequipped trailer says Hughes, not least as braking components like disc pads are identical. But, says Hughes, "It goes even further than that. Renault has done a lot of work on the EBS system in order to get the best marriage between the tractor and trailer axles so that we know that we'll get very good utilisation between a trailer fitted with Renault Compatico axles that's pulled behind a Renault truck."

Closer working

As the trend towards ever closer working with vehicle manufacturers in order to ensure more integrated axles and braking systems continues, Hughes is convinced: "It's going to maximise the products. In the early days of disc brakes when compatibility and predominance wasn't really fully understood this created a lot of problems. Now those issues are much more clearly understood and the concept from ArvinMeritor/ROR is that you're buying the complete package from us so it can't get much better than that."

However, Hughes' pragmatic parting shot is one that artic operators will appreciate most of all. "After all, the axle is the most expensive thing on a trailer and any new product we come up with must offer increased profitability to the operator. Otherwise,why should they buy it?"


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